


An Empty Divide

by Nevara_Alyss



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Imprisonment, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-17 12:06:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevara_Alyss/pseuds/Nevara_Alyss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two lives are intertwined forever by violence in the heat of war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

1438 Zulu 04.12.2183

A sandstorm was brewing off in the distance, the wall of sand swirled and loomed high into the air. Nevara could see it coming from the bluff she was standing on. Helyme was warmer than what she deemed acceptable. There was little to no shade for miles. Her helmet was cracked from a previous firefight with batarian drug runners. It seemed like an odd time to be doing anything like that in recent months. The place was a warzone.

Her team had been sent to maintain watch for any movement from turians and to report in if they saw anything. The First Contact War had been done and over with for years now, but in recent months relations between humans and turians had fallen apart do the attempted assassination of one of the Primarchs by an unknown human assailant.

She had wondered why they had sent her there in the first place. The latest recon reports hadn't said anything about turian fleets or scouts in the area. She just followed her orders from the brass at Arcturus like the good little soldier she was.

Nevara was alone now. Her squad was dead. There wasn't much else she could do about it. She turned around to see how far she'd walked since the morning before. Everything looked the same, sand and more sand. Even during the nights the temperatures from the day seemed to radiate off the ground.

_Nice work, dumbass. This doesn't happen to officers._

She took her helmet off and threw it. It rolled down the hill and slid to a stop. Now is not the time for melodramatics. She had to keep her wits about her for the sake of survival at the very least. Her armor was growing heavier with each passing second. She grabbed her canteen from her pack and took a sip of water. She metered it to make it last. Every drop was like liquid gold in this hellish wasteland. She licked her lips and continued to follow the path that her helmet went. She picked it up and put it back on.

Mirage after mirage passed over her eyes. Minutes felt like days and the dust storm was gaining ground. She knew she was going to have to find a place to stay for the night. She didn't want to get lost anymore than she already was, if it was possible to be anymore lost than that. The land had grown flat and her feet sank deeper into the sand.

_This is complete and utter bullshit. No trees, cacti, nothing, hell, I haven't even seen a rock yet._

Shepard made it to the next hill and looked around. Another hour or so, and the storm of dirt and sand would be on top of her. There was no more time for dicking around walking aimlessly. She scanned to the west and saw what looked like a mesa off in the distance. It could be a mirage, but hope was all she had. She was a survivor. She survived most anything that was thrown at her from the time she was a child. This should be nothing more than a walk in the park compared to her past.

She looked to the east to see if there was anything there. Nothing, but rolling hills that went well into the horizon.

"Well, I might as well attempt it. What have I got to lose?" She questioned herself adjusting her armor and pack to turn towards the potential safe haven.

_What have I got to lose? What the fuck kind of question is that? I could die._

Nevara shook the thought off and continued on her walk. She was at a fast clip trying to outrun the impending wind. It had picked up speed and the sand was starting to tick at her faceplate. In another half hour or so and she would be in the full brunt of it. It was a thought that filled her with dread, having heard of stories of Helyme's destructively long storms.

She continued at almost a full sprint when the ground began to tremble under her feet. It was a familiar shake from the earth. She had felt it before when she was younger on a separate mission. Another unit that had been killed under her command, it wasn't her fault though, the information was faulty and lacking at best, but they were dead none the less. She skidded to a stop, but it was too late. The rumbling from underneath became a growl about 30 yards away.

_Shit! Run, woman, run!_

Her legs wouldn't move. She was frozen as the thresher maw broke the ground. It turned towards her, tentacles and jaws open ready for attack. Its armor shined brightly in the afternoon sun.

_Go! Go, go, go, go, go! Go fucking damn it!_

She snapped back to reality and sprinted. She wasn't going to let the bastard eat her. _I'd rather get lost in the sandstorm._ She continued her dash across the nest faster than what her little legs could do. She was built for endurance, but exhaustion and dehydration had a dampening effect on her reflexes. She had almost made it to the edge of the thresher's domain, when a rock had tripped her up and she flew the rest of the way out. Are you fucking serious? I finally see a rock and it screws me over. She jumped to her feet and continued to run. She was so close to the walls of the mesa that she could see medium to large boulders lying around.

_Finally!_

She turned around to see if her predator was after her. In the blink of an eye it had reeled back and let loose a gob of acidic spit that splashed the ground near her. It sizzled in the dirt and splashed the greave on her right leg. It bubbled and ate its way through the armor in seconds and was working on devouring the second layer in short order. She didn't have time to remove it she'd take care of it when she was out of the immediate danger she was in. Another acid splash hit the ground behind her, spraying her backpack and eating it away faster than her armor.

Thermal clips, food, water, everything that she had started falling out all over the ground. She wasn't about to stop and pick them up; she had to keep going for the sake of going. She ran as far she could before the pain from the acid had finally hit her. She ran behind a boulder and slammed into the ground. She took her knife out of her belt and cut the straps on her greave and her second barrier in quick fashion. She looked at her shin red and raw from the digestive acids working its magic at eating her alive. Blood was oozing from the wound.

_Well that's bloody great! You're still going to be eaten even slower than if you'd just jumped into the damn things mouth. If this doesn't kill you, the infection, or starvation and dehydration will._

The ground shook once again and then there was complete and utter silence. Only the wind making its cry through the desert could be heard. She relaxed again keeping her senses sharp. How she hated it, the pain was intensified. It reverberated through her in shockwaves that were uncontrollable. She took her helmet off and vomited on the ground beside her. It was the last thing she needed to be doing. She heaved and gagged. Her muscles shook violently with each wretched purge. Tears were streaming down her face and she choked between jolts.

When there was nothing left to empty but bile she sat up and removed her gloves from her hand to wipe her mouth. The aftertaste was utterly nasty and lingered every time she swallowed. She removed her pack and pulled out an emergency pack of medi-gel, gauze and antiseptic. She wasn't going to make it into hiding in time if she was going to nurse her wounds right now, but the alternative to letting dirt and debris get into the wound seemed even worse.

The winds were almost at full force and visibility was almost at zero. Hot air wrapped around her as she tried to sterilize the wound. The sand was making it difficult to say the least. While her back was to the wind; she poured the stringent fluid over the wound. She yelled out as it bubbled and oozed. Blood dripped to the ground and made clods of mud that rolled away with the wind. When the initial shock ended and she could see the damage done clearly, she dosed it with medi-gel and gauzed it as fast as possible.

Even though combat medicine wasn't her strong suit, she had fixed herself to the best of her abilities. Given the situation she was in, if she survived the night, she'd be her own damn hero. She put her helmet on again and pulled her backpack around to see what was left. There was one medium sized metal box that couldn't quite fit through the hole in the pack. She looked inside: one canteen of water, a week's worth of field rations and two thermal clips still remained. Not much to work with, but at least it gave her a chance.

_It's better than I thought; worse than I feared. Let's drag out the impending doom a little longer._

She grinned at herself for being a pessimist. She was always called an optimist but the irony of it all made her laugh hysterically. She had always planned for the worst and hoped for the best, but this situation couldn't possibly get any worse than it already was. She collected her items and put her gloves back on.

"No atheists in foxholes, huh?" She chortled.

Facing down enemy battalions, thresher maws, slavers, mercenaries, turians, and batarians had put her in a truly cynical mood of late. She kept walking, letting her hand trace the walls of the mesa. The sky had grown dark with the dust thrown up into the air. Her bare calf burned from the abrasiveness of the environment. She was exhausted and she was hungry. She didn't know how much time had passed since the winds had picked up so drastically.

She didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to find shelter and bunker down for the night. She stumbled a few times along the way making her injuries throb all the more. When she reached the south facing wall of the mesa, she sat down again to rest her legs. The back of her leg was almost as raw as the front. There wasn't much she could do about it. For now, though, she was going to eat. She grabbed some food and sat in silence grinding down the sickening food that hit her stomach hard. She forced herself to keep it down and kept eating and sipping water. Dying of shock was low on her list of things to do.

Survival and trying to get a message back to Arcturus were top priorities right now. How she was going to accomplish it with what she had was beyond her, but she was willing to try, nonetheless. She brought up her omni-tool and scanned comm signals. Nothing but static on every band she checked. Towards the ends of hope, she tried one more time and finally she got a ping. It was stronger than what she thought it would be given the conditions, but she was happy regardless.

"What the hell? Who could be here? What could be here?" She questioned her results regardless of her glee.

She stood up with renewed spirit, or curiosity, she couldn't tell. It didn't matter. She followed the pinging until it was screaming into her head. The noise was echoing in her helmet and it had made it feel like her ears were bleeding. With the wind howling like it was, it needed to be that loud. She stopped and looked around and saw nothing. No ships, no people, no nothing. Just rocks, and scrub brush were around speckling the ground in a haphazard fashion.

_Idiot, you were chasing a ghost. You should have gone with your instincts on this one._

"Fuck it all to hell! Damn it! Son of a bitch!" She yelled in disgust and exhaustion.

She sat down again to lean against the wall of rock and proceed with a maintenance check. When she leaned back to prop herself up she kept going till she was flat on her back looking up at what was a ceiling. What the hell? She jumped up to her feet and drew her side arm in reflex. Her head was spinning from the quick jump to standing. It was dark and the thought of everything being a delusion was running at the forefront of her mind. Her eyes were trying to adjust to the lack of light. It was obvious though that night had fallen. It was pitch black out in the wasteland and even darker in this newly discovered hole in the wall. She lowered her weapon and took a step forward.

_Well I'll be damned, shelter._

She grabbed her pack and walked inside. Anything was better than being out in the elements. She took her helmet off and turned her flashlight on that was attached to her sidearm. The cave was deep and seemed to go on forever. The air was stale and cool; odd commodities for a place like this. She walked deeper in holding her gun away from her to see if anything was in here. She walked for several minutes and finally plopped down far enough down the way that it would take a few minutes to get to where she was. The air was pungent and refreshing in the same second. It was much better than breathing dirt outside. She shined her flashlight down the hallway; it seemed it snaked through the mesa itself.

If this was to be her home away from home for awhile, she wanted to know what was going on with this tunnel. It obviously wasn't natural. Probably a stock area for the drug runners. Her eyes were getting heavy the longer she sat. Her body refused to move from the spot it was in. She wasn't going to try and stay awake, she'd accomplished more than she thought she would, with a few minor setbacks along the way but it was a good day. She checked her omni-tool for the time: 0230 zulu time. She set the alarm to go off for 0700 and shut off the flashlight for the rest of the night.

XXXXX

0145 Zulu time 05.12.2183

"Sir, we have a problem. One of our listening posts is posting Signal Alpha 3." A youthful green-eyed turian called from his post. The red light flashed in a repetitive rhythm on his interface.

"Which one is it?" Commander Vakarian asked.

"Helyme, sir. Twenty klicks south from where the EA mining complex was." He responded.

During the first weeks of the fighting, most of the Alliance's complexes were destroyed by sat-strikes. It crippled the Alliance for some time, but they were recouping their losses quicker than they could be taken away.

"I didn't think anyone was using that post right now." The commander commented.

"How long would it take for us to get there?" A third turian asked. He never looked at the new recruit.

"About a day, sir."

"Is there anyone closer?" the third turian asked.

"No, we're the closest out here by 12 light years."

"Well, we have time, let's go take a look." Commander Vakarian muttered.

"It's probably nothing. Do you want to just relay it to one of the other ships? This is the second time we've had to go." The third turian interjected.

"This is our patrol route, lieutenant. If there is a problem, then we need to find out what it is. Do you want the enemy to find out about it?" The Commander Vakarian retorted. "Now set a course for Helyme."

"Aye Aye, sir." The young turian responded.

Commaner Vakarian got up and walked down a corridor to his quarters. His head was throbbing. Dealing with Lieutenant Gaeto was more than a taxing proposition. He was mouthy and always tried to undercut his commands. If he could kill him, he would. It would have been a good and bad example for the young recruit to see what happened when you argued with your commanding officer.

There wasn't much else to do, but wait till they got there. It was less than a day's flight in FTL. _It could be worse; they could have put me with the ground troops that were trying to take out the outlier colonies._ He had already gone through that already. It wasn't something that needed to be repeated in his lifetime. Not a fun idea. During the first waves of battle he was assigned to lead a small platoon to take out a small human colony. The name of it escaped him, but it didn't matter, it was a colony. Most of the men had left the colony for work that morning at the refinery not far from the town. Mostly women and children were left.

Their orders were to wipe the colony off the map. Kill anything that moved it didn't matter what it was. The attack was a cheap shot at humanity for their messed up attempt to try and take over their spots as defenders of Citadel Space. They were going to be corrected accordingly and this was the best way to get their point across. Their tactics had reminded him of batarian guerilla warfare. It was sickening and disheartening. He knew he had a job to do and he dared not say anything about it. He just did the job like he was told to do. It didn't help him feel any better about it and from then it was hard to sleep at night.

By the time they were done, bodies were strewn from one end of the colony to the other. The sidewalks and paths were flooded with the crimson red blood that flowed from the endless gunshot wounds. The last thing that was to be done was to destroy the refinery and get rid of that colony once and for all. He sent a small troop of people to the refinery with the orders to set the core into critical overload. The rest of them would meet them at the extraction point. Over the comm he heard that they were ready and that they would be there within five minutes. It was enough time to get back and a good distance away from the blast.

His eyes opened quickly panting at the recollection turned nightmare. He was sitting at his desk full of datapads stacked one on top of the other. _I must have dozed off._ He stood up and walked out of the room. He walked back to the cockpit still remembering everything from four months ago.

"How much time till we get there, private?" He asked.

The young turian jumped out of his chair and turned around to salute.

"Twelve hours till touchdown sir."

"Where's Lieutenant Gaeto? He's supposed to relieve you now."

"I don't know sir, he left shortly after you did."

"Thank you. Go get him, I'll take over for you until he gets here." The commander sat at the helm and clicked a few buttons on the interface. The private saluted again and walked out of the room.

An hour later, Gaeto came in. He was still sleepy and rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry Commander. I guess I overslept."

"You sure as hell did."

"I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again."

"You bet your ass you won't." He hissed. "You've got this shift until we touchdown you understand."

"Aye sir."

Commander Vakarian got off the helm controls and left the cockpit. There were plenty of reports that needed to be written about how completely uneventful their route was, except for this little pit stop. He hoped it was something more than some damn creature trying to create a den.


	2. Chapter 2

_0700 Zulu Time 05.12.2183_

Nevara stirred from sleep awoken by the annoyingly shrieking alarm emanating from her omni-tool. She opened her eyes and yawned. The dust storm was still belting the area at full force and she couldn't see anything past the entrance. She sat up and clicked her flashlight back on and checked her wounds. Her calf was sandblasted, but otherwise looked to be no worse than a bad sunburn. Her shin on the other hand was still oozing blood and plasma. She cleaned it up again and bandaged it up again. The pain had stopped a couple of hours before her awakening. _I don't know if this is a good sign, or not, but I need to get up._ It was an obvious idea, she couldn't just stay there. If she let herself stagnate there it could and probably would cause more injury.

She flashed her flashlight deeper down the tunnel it didn't look as long as it did the night before. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. She was excited with the idea of exploring a creepy tunnel. She grabbed her half eaten MRE from her pack and proceeded to limp down the path. Her legs were like jelly from muscle exhaustion. Eventually that passed and she kept going on eating as she went. _This food still sucks. I should have looked at what the hell it was first._

It wasn't long before the light in front of her flashed back at her. She picked up the pace and entered a cool metallic area. Her boots on the platform made the metal underneath sing. She scanned the room looking all over the room. It was small and blank. She scanned the room again and noticed the floor led to a set of stairs that seemed to go well into the darkness. She held the handrail and took the first step of many down the winding stairs. The air was pleasant and cool. She took her gloves off and put them in her tattered pack. The metal was cold and it sent a shiver up her arm.

_Intriguing._

It took a few minutes to reach the bottom of the stairs. She swiveled her head up towards where she came from. It was a long walk made even longer by her injuries. She checked the clock on her omni-tool- _0745_. When she looked back to scan the area it had one other entrance. She shined her light down the hallway. _Great, another hallway._ She pointed her light around the area. Bulletin boards and maps lined the hallway. She stopped in front of one of the items and looked at it.

Nevara stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes rolled over the foreign language and the answer hit her like a bolt of lightning. _It's turian. Fuck._ She raised her gun in defense. She had no idea if there was anyone here. She kept reading. From her officer training course and what she had learned during the fighting, she had picked up some of the language. She could tell there were times and names, but other than that, it was a jumbled mess. She turned away from the chart and kept walking looking at the placards on the doors. One by one she opened the doors; there were three bedrooms for common military personnel and one room for what seemed to be for the commanding officer.

Further down, there was a kitchen with MREs waiting in boxes. _I can't eat this. They have to have something I could use._ She opened box after box looking for anything that could be helpful in her survival. Eight boxes into her search, she found it. Crates of water bottles lined back to back swished back and forth when she took them down from the shelf.

Nevara kept going holding three of the water bottles close to her chest. She opened another door and it was a medical bay. It was small and the lights came on when she walked into the room. Glass cupboards lined the wall with various concoctions and drugs in them. There were some medi-gel packs in a drawer and she gladly appropriated them for herself. She was thrilled by her growing treasure trove. She walked back out and closed the door. Another door led to a small storage area. More food, some blankets, ammunition, it was a beautiful sight to behold. Even if she couldn't eat the food, she at least could refill her dwindling stores for when she attempted to make her way back to the downed shuttle.

There were some bathrooms, nothing remarkable about them. So she kept on moving to the last door at the end of the hallway facing her. She armed herself and opened the door. The room was larger than the others. She walked towards the middle of the room and looked around the four walls. Headsets were laid out on desks near control panels. She walked up to one and put half of the set next to her ear. She flipped a couple of switches and static came to her ears piercing them sharply within a second. She dropped the headset and fumbled with a couple of dials until the volume came down and the static stopped. It was a dead line. There was nothing going on and the silence was as loud as a bombardment from the skies.

She set the headset down and looked around the room again. A support beam was standing in the middle and generators stood in the far left of the room. She walked up to the closed off area and noticed the lock that gleamed back at her from the light. _Figures, nothing is ever simple, is it?_ She grabbed a chair and sat in the middle of the room. Her head fell back and heat was pouring off her. She looked at her omni-tool again- _1730._ She unharnessed her breastplate and let it fall to the floor. It clanged in retaliation and went silent. She proceeded to take off her secondary barrier and let that fall on top of the chest plate. The air was cold and it made skin goose pimple. It was a glorious feeling.

She sat up in the chair and felt her forehead. It was hot to the touch and sweat poured from her. _A fever. Just when I thought things were going absolutely great._ She looked down at her shin and peeled back the bandage. It was oozing and the air made it sting horribly. She shivered hard and got up. She had to change the dressing again. She walked back to the med-bay and grabbed what looked to be an antiseptic spray.

"I hope no one comes here or I'm fucked." She grumbled under her breath as she sprayed the wound. The hissing sound from the canister was louder than what it usually would be. She closed her eyes till the biting pain faded away. When it ebbed she got up and looked for her pack that she'd dropped by the door. She grabbed her food and sat. The items were more palatable compared to the last one. She was cold and tired, but full and refreshed. She grabbed her armor and put it back on.

"You can never be too careful." She warned herself as she slipped the hard plate back on. She walked to the storage room and grabbed a pillow and blanket and proceeded to find a nice corner in the back of the room. As nice as the idea of sleeping in one of the beds sounded, it probably wasn't a good idea. Either way, she was boxed in but this gave her more wiggle room to defend with.

She laid out the blanket and pillow and shortly followed suit. She didn't look at her omni-tool to see what time it was, she was tired and she welcomed the sleep. Her eyes grew heavy till she couldn't keep them open anymore. She reached for her pistol and slid it under her pillow. Just in case.

_0015 Zulu 06.12.2183_

A searing pain shot through Nevara's abdomen, followed by another and another. She tried to scramble to her feet but was kicked in the side that made her fall flat to the floor again.

"I said get up, human." Her translator picked up. She opened her eyes and looked up and saw a very large foreboding body looming over her.

"That's what I was doing until you kicked me." She prodded. She stood up and faced her assailant. The lights in the room were on now and it made everything blurry till her eyes adjusted. Her head was swimming and she went to shove whatever it was in her way so she could get past it.

A firm grip grabbed her by the wrist and it caused pain to shoot up to her elbow. She looked at the hand and went to wrench her arm way. When she tried to pull away, the response she got was a punch to the gut. The wind in her was gone and she gasped for air. Nothing seemed to enter her lungs. They burned every time she inhaled. She fell to her knees and looked up at her attacker with disdain.

"What are you doing here?" The voice asked.

"Oh you know, I was sleeping till you rudely interrupted me." Her voice was raspy but firm. She eyed the now known turian and smiled. His response to her was a knee to the face. She reeled back and shook off the blood that filled her mouth. She jumped to her feet again and went to hit him. Her perception was failing her in her now dizzying state. He dodged her easily and grabbed her by the hair and tossed her over a table. She skid on the floor and climbed to her feet again. She pulled her knife and lunged at him. It slashed across the heavy armor and flew out of her hand. The blade fell in two pieces and clanked to the floor.

"I'm not going to ask you again, what you are doing here?" The turian boomed.

"Like I said I was-" A punch landed square across her cheek and she spun around. Blood flew from her lips. She staggered back and looked at her hands. They were bloody.

A third voice entered the fray, younger than the first. "What'd you find?"

The first turian looked at the door and pointed at Nevara. "Go keep an eye out for the commander. I'm going to continue my fun here."

_Fun, huh. I'll show you a good time._

She regained her balance and her adrenaline had taken hold. She remembered her hand-to-hand training and started slowly towards the turian. When he turned back to face her, she swung as hard as she could and hit the turian square in the jaw. He stumbled back a couple of steps but caught himself again. He rushed her hard and slammed her up against the wall, racking her skull against it with a thud. They were eye to eye with each other now. His piercing red eyes were dancing with delight at the torture he was inflicting on her.

"You'll pay for that in spades."

"I hope so, because you are one ugly motherfucker." She smiled. Her feet hung off the floor. Damn being short.

He dropped her to the floor and proceeded to continue kicking her. Each kick lifted her off the ground and the feeling of suffocation came over her. Nothing was safe from the assault. Her hands, face, legs, torso all took the beating. Her shin was bleeding and dripped to the floor. She closed her eyes. Just stop, damn it just stop. She never thought she'd ever hear those words echo in her mind. The pain weakened her and her mind was running out of ways to compensate. The kicking stopped again and was replaced by being dragged across the floor.

"Are you ready to tell me what I want to know?" The turian asked as he dropped her in the center of the room and leered at her.

"Go fuck yourself, turian." She defied him again. Her reward was a kick to the side again and the sound of her ribs crunching under the stress. "Come on, you want to fight dirty, be my guest." She choked as she got to her feet. She stared at him bruised and bloody. Her eyes darted from place to place.

"What did you say?" He asked. He heard her the first time but just wanted to make sure she had replied in such a way.

She looked him in the eyes and pointed at him "Go fuck yourself, turian!" She yelled at him.

"Fuck, me? I don't think so." He smacked her hand away and head butted her square in the forehead. She fell to the floor with a thud. She felt her brain slam into the back of her skull. Her eyes went black and she gapped like a fish out of water.

He resumed kicking her. He seemed to get the most fun out of doing it. She was fading in and out and felt herself being led around again. Finally her sickening journey ended at the feet of another very tall turian. She looked up at him and he looked down at her with very piercing blue eyes. He was looking her over but said nothing. He looked angry, but not at her. He just watched her and she smiled.

"What? You wanna go, too?" She sputtered. "Come on, this bitch hits like a girl." Her eyes were locked on his searching him for some response. Nothing came, he just stared. _Come on, shut up, you know they're going to kill you if you keep it up._ She kept watching. He was stoic, more perplexed by her than anything. Most people would have just given in and told them what they wanted. Not her though, she wasn't giving up anything. She smiled a faint smile and spit again as the first turian put a gun to her head.

She didn't look at him. She kept looking up; she hurt too much to move. Her eyes were fixated on the turian in front of her. "Why hesitate now? Do it. If you don't, when I get up, I'm going to kill you." She was half expecting the execution to happen with all the goading she'd put out there from the beginning. She felt the concussion to her head, and a starburst of light came into her eyes. Darkness shortly followed then nothing.

_It's about time; I didn't think he had the balls to do it._


	3. Chapter 3

_2300 Zulu 05.12.2183_

They made touchdown near the entrance to the listening station. It was a new moon and the remnants of the dust storm had flitted flakes of dust at Commander Vakarian's helmet. They looked around briefly to see if there were any signs of evidence that someone had been there. The storm had destroyed most of that the previous night. It could be nothing. He took a step towards the entrance and punched a code into his omni-tool. Floor lights lit up dimly lighting the path for them.

"Go in and look around. Radio back if you find anything. I'll be there shortly." Commander Vakarian ordered. He returned to the scout ship to get the diagnostic equipment and security codes to turn off the alarms. How he could forget something so mundane was beyond him. He just wanted to be off this planet as fast as possible and get on with his route. He uploaded schematics and subroutines into his omni-tool and headed down the dim tunnel with assault rifle ready if the need arose.

It was a long winding tunnel. The deeper in he went, the cooler it got within. It was refreshing compared to the heat blasted wind outside. He took a deep breath in and caught an aroma that differed from what he was used to. It was pungent and tangy to his olfactory center. It was familiar to him and yet so very foreign at the same time. He couldn't place it but it stopped him for a second. He radioed ahead for a status report. Gaeto reported that they were still on the stairs and that they hadn't seen anything yet.

He continued walking for a minutes more. The earthy, dim path opened up into a room of steel that was just big enough for the stairwell and a light. The light wasn't much brighter than the path lights, but the reflections that it gave off shone down the stairwell to the bottom where they ended. He looked over the railing to the bottom where the floor was concrete and slashed with hash marks from the stairs. The stairs were narrow and his boots tinged the metal as he walked. It got cooler with every foot of descent and that odd aroma became more pungent the closer he got to the bottom.

To the left of the stairs, there was a hallway. Not near as long as the entrance but definitely not short. The lights were much brighter and doors lined the hall. Most were living quarters, bathrooms, storage, maintenance, and a kitchen. He walked passed maps and codes used for encryption sequences. He was walking to the control room when he saw the young private standing in front of the door. There was definitely something going on behind the closed door. The private smiled and saluted.

"Sir, we found something you might find interesting."

"Why didn't you call me on the comm? Where's the lieutenant?"

"He told me he could deal with the problem himself. It was just a rat."

From behind the door he heard yelling and fighting. Things were being broken or thrown and it didn't sit well with him. Pretty damn big rat. He looked at the private again. The young man was smiling. He was enjoying what was going on. He knows more than he's saying.

"Are you going to move so I can go…"

From behind the door he heard an unfamiliar voice. It was filtered through his translator.

"Go fuck yourself, turian!" a female voice yelled. It was quickly followed by a gasp for air and a body hitting the floor.

He shoved the private out of the way and opened the door. What he saw set him back a bit. The room was in complete disarray. Blood droplets in various velocity patterns spattered the floor. He walked further in and saw Lieutenant Gaeto standing over something. He kicked at it repeatedly as hard as he could. With each impact the soft thud made the "rat" wretch.

"Fuck me? I don't think so." Lieutenant Gaeto responded. He kicked again and this time her body flew up of the floor and landed and rolled over so that her back was to him. He kneeled over her with a sadistic smile and grabbed a handful of hair. He pulled her up to her feet and led her over to Commander Vakarian and threw her at his feet. She crumpled to the floor spitting blood out with every exhale. She was breathing heavily and looked up at the tall turian.

"What? You wanna go, too?" She taunted. "Come on; this bitch hits like a girl." Blood dribbled down her chin as she spoke. Lieutenant Gaeto drew his gun and pointed it at her head. "Why hesitate now. Do it. If you don't, when I get up, I'm going to kill you myself."

Commander Vakarian stood there dumbfounded by her defiance. Her hazel eyes were on fire with hatred. He shook his head and let out a steady stream of air. He didn't like the look of this and there would be consequences for treating a POW the way that Gaeto had. Before he could open his mouth Gaeto cracked the side of his pistol against the side of her head splitting her scalp and sending her to the ground unconscious. Gaeto walked up to her and chuckled. "I guess not huh, bitch." He spat at her and walked back to Commander Vakarian and saluted.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Commander Vakarian bellowed.

"Securing the prisoner in case you wanted to interrogate it yourself sir."

"Really? That's not what it looked like to me. I told you to report to me if you found anything. You didn't follow my orders." He was fuming now. "I gave you specific instructions and you defied them. Get the fuck out of this room before I kill you myself. Now!"

"But sir, it's just a human. Why give it any consideration at all? I should have just shot it on sight."

"I said out you insubordinate asshole. _She_ has to be dealt with and questioned not euthanized. Grab your gear and find a place till I come and talk to you."

"But-"

Commander Vakarian glared at him and took a step towards him. He was more than willing to kill him now. He knew he was going to have to report this to his superiors when they got back to the vessel. Gaeto took a step back and looked at the crumpled mass on the floor. Blood dripped to the floor in a small pool. He grabbed his gear and headed out to one of the living quarters. The private stood for a second, shocked at the violence that had taken place in confined space. Commander Vakarian eyed him and nodded his head in the direction of the living quarters. The private nodded and walked away.

Alone with his thoughts he examined the room. Desks were turned over. Chairs were broken and splintered. Lights flickered randomly from different panels around the room. That smell he couldn't place minutes ago came back with a flash- human blood. It was splattered all of the room, no surface was clean of it. Finally his eyes fell to the lump of flesh on the floor. He walked over to it and bent down to scan for vital signs. They were faint but steady. Her red hair covered her face and was sticky with blood.

He grabbed some gloves from the first aid kit he had and grabbed her by the wrist. He dragged her over to a pipe in the middle of the room and cuffed her to it. Her lightly armored body laid there motionless on the floor. He rolled her on to her back to see how bad the damage was in an attempt to stabilize her. She needed to be alive if he was going to question her later. He looked her over scanning the remnants of her beating. _Damn_. He grabbed gauze and bandages and began to clean her up. Her face was swollen and bruised her. Her skin was pale and damp with sweat. He needed to get her out of the armor and check for any other injuries and take care of them.

He was gentle when removing the pieces of her armor. He wasn't willing to wake her and fight her in the condition she was in. He lifted her shirt to her chest and looked at the bruising of her ribs. He scanned her torso. No internal injuries but a couple of broken ribs. He pulled the thin layer of cloth back down and wrapped her ribs from armpits to mid-waist. He put her back down and continued looking her over. He saw that her right leg was bandaged and blood was seeping through it. It was almost completely saturated. He cut the gauze away and cleaned it with care. When she moaned, he stopped and watched to make sure she wasn't waking up. When the blood had been cleared away he noticed that it was an acid burn. An infected acid burn but it would heal once he changed the bandage. He put a large dose of medi-gel on the wound and gauzed it.

When he realized there wasn't much else to do, but check on her every couple of hours, he left the room and shut the door.


	4. Chapter 4

0100 06.12.2183

Commander Vakarian looked at the bloody gloves on his hands and removed them. His armor was speckled with the diluted drops of blood from the newly found prisoner. He dropped the armor off in the commander's quarters and went to the last door nearest the stairs. He didn't know what he was going to do, or what he was going to say, but something needed to be done. Things had to be made right in that moment, otherwise things were just going to keep on escalating. He didn't bother knocking he just walked in.

Lieutenat Gaeto was asleep in the bed with his back to the door. His armor was resting in a chair near the door and his weapons were lying on the desk. He closed the door and walked to the next room. Private Trezon was still awake reading something from a datapad. When he saw the commander at his door, he jumped out of bed and saluted. Commander Vakarian waved him off and came into the room.

"I need you to tell me everything that happened."

The young turian looked at the floor, ashamed to make eye contact with him. He let out an exaggerated sigh and scratched the back of his head.

"I don't know where to begin." He let out another sigh trying to compose his thoughts.

"Just start from where you two entered the main room." He urged.

"Well, we began by searching the room. We didn't notice anything at first. We both thought it was going to end up being a false alarm; until we heard a moan coming from the corner of the room." He stopped for a second and then started back up. "The lieutenant flashed his light on her, I guess. I couldn't tell really. He told me to leave and that he'd deal with the problem himself." He paused again. "I didn't know what to do. I panicked I guess. I waited outside the door till you got there."

"Why didn't you tell me over the comm?

"Because sir, he was on the same channel. I had no idea he was going to beat her like that."

"Then why did it look like you were enjoying what was going on?"

"If that's how it seemed sir, that's not how I wanted it to be represented. Maybe nerves sir."

Commander Vakarian nodded at the young private. "Alright. I have to take care of something then."

He walked out of the room and went back next door to where the lieutenant was sleeping. He snuck in as quietly as he could and took his armor out to the storage room. He returned and grabbed the lieutenant's guns and put them in the storage area too. He put a lock on the door and encrypted it. He walked back to the door and drew his sidearm and again walked into the room. He drew down on him and proceeded to load a round into the chamber.

The noise made the lieutenant stir and roll over. He blinked a couple of times and reached for his own gun. Of course, there was nothing there. Commander Vakarian pointed the gun at the lieutenant's head. One squeeze and this could all be over. He pointed the gun then at the pillow right next to Gaeto's head and squeezed the trigger. The round hit the pillow and Gaeto jumped out of bed.

"Sit. Now." The commander demanded.

"Sir?" Gaeto was perplexed but sat anyways.

"I don't know what kind of shit you are pulling here. As a matter of fact, I don't want to know. This little event that you pulled tonight is the most fucked up thing I've ever seen from someone under my command."

He was still pointing the gun at him. He so badly wanted to kill him. The dumb looks he was getting, were enough to make him want to take him and put him out of his misery. Say something stupid. Give me a reason to beat you within an inch of your life.

"Commander, what do you want me to say? If she'd just answered the question and shut up she wouldn't be laid out all over that floor. If I had to do it over again, would I? Absolutely. She's the enemy, sir, and we're at war."

"Don't give me that we're at war bullshit, lieutenant. I know we're at war. You nearly beat her to death. Do you know how to talk to a dead person, because I sure as hell don't?"

"Commander, I just don't like the idea of someone coming in here and doing whatever they want. If I see her again, I will not hesitate to kill her this time."

"Okay, fine." He pointed the gun at Gaeto's head and just before he pulled the trigger he moved the gun to the right of him and fired. The bullet grazed the side of Gaeto's head causing a spurt of blood to come out. Gaeto screamed out and put his hand to his face. The blue blood oozed between his fingers. "That was a warning, lieutenant. If I see you near that room again, I will kill you."

Commander Vakarian walked out of the room and back down the hall. _I don't know what I'm going to do with her._ He went into the commander's quarters and grabbed the human's omni-tool. He punched a few buttons and started an uplink with his own omni-tool. Flight reports, scouting reports, the frequency to her translator; it all went onto his omni-tool. He dropped her omni-tool into a drawer. He got up from the desk and left the room.

He walked into the comm room and walked over to the generators. He unlocked the lock and went over to a switch on the far side to turn them on. The slow hum filled the quiet room. He looked over at the sprawled out body and listened to see if she was breathing. The slow exhale and fall from her chest gave him his answer. He grabbed one of the only chairs that worked and sat in the far corner. It had been a long night for all of them.

He turned off his display and closed his eyes. The generator hum and the little human sleeping sounded like a nocturne.


	5. Chapter 5

Unknown time, unknown date

_I'm not dead?_

A haze filled Nevara's head as she opened her eyes. The room was dark and she couldn't see anything. There were no lights. The panels didn't flicker and the only noise she heard was from the generators that were now on. A breeze came out of nowhere and she shivered. She put her hand on her stomach and felt the bandages on her. _No armor._ Her tank top and panties were all she was wearing as protection from the chill. She turned her head around to see if she could see anything now that her eyes were adjusting to the darkness. Her head throbbed excruciatingly.

She tried to sit up but the pain stopped her. She resumed laying back down and pushed up on to her hands before making the final push to fully sitting. She raised her hands to her head to feel the wrapping around her skull. Her hand only got half way up before she realized she was cuffed. _Fucking turians._ She felt around the floor with her unbound hand to see what she had around her. There was nothing but concrete. She felt for what she was bound to and climbed up the pipe restraining her. She winced every inch of the way till she was standing up. She held the pole, pipe, whatever it was and circled around it. She was chained to it like a dog.

She sighed heavily for being foolish. She didn't have her omni-tool, she had no idea how much time had passed but she had the distinct feeling that she wasn't alone in the darkness.

"I know you're here. Let's quit playing games." She demanded of the pitch black darkness.

She stopped moving and strained to hear over the droning of the generators. Something was there definitely, but she couldn't place it.

"Damn it! Show yourself! What do you want?" She implored waiting for an answer.

A voice came from to the left, out of the void but she couldn't understand it. It was in turian, she knew that for certain, but what was being said, made her stop. It was gravelly and harsh. It was a rare occurrence to hear the language but it wasn't going to help her right now.

"What? I don't understand. My translator isn't working." She felt completely naked now, knowing that there was someone watching her from the dark. Before she could say anything else, the glow of an omni-tool burned a corner of the dark away for a second, and then flickered back out.

"I wasn't playing games. I was sleeping." The voice over the translator told her. It was stern but relaxed. She turned in the direction she had seen the light emanate from. Through the dark she saw the faint glow of a heads up display flickering on. It projected a dim light out and only silhouetted the figure sitting in the chair against the wall.

"What do you want? Why are you in here?"

"You don't get to ask questions. That's my job." The voice grumbled back. The floating eye piece moved now and was coming towards her. The sound of her captor's boots thudded one after another on the concrete and stopped no more than a foot in front of her. "How are you feeling?"

"Is that any of your concern? I don't need your false diligence." She reached out to push him back, but her hand was smacked away

"If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead now. I think you owe me a little bit of respect don't you think?"

"Sure. Thanks for saving me, turian. I don't know where I'd be without you now. How could I ever repay you?" She was condescending at best and biting in her words.

"Do you really have to be so obstreperous?" He questioned.

"Well, yeah. Yeah, I do." She grinned into the darkness.

She could hear his breathing quicken and she knew he was getting angry. She closed her eyes tightly expecting to be thrashed like the other turian did. She had never felt fear quite like this before. She'd endured great physical pain, but this was taken to a whole new level. Her breathing quickened and she waited awhile in the silence.

The sound of boots scuffing away gave her little comfort in the dark. The door opened and the light poured in blinding her. The shadowy figure of the turian walked towards the door. He looked back at her again and closed the door locking it behind him.

She was alone again in the darkness with her thoughts to keep her together. She slid down the pole and sat there, pondering what he had planned for her. She didn't want to know what was coming around the bend but she knew something bad was going to happen. It was only a matter of time.

Her body was aching from shivering from the cold. She closed her eyes and dozed off until the sound of the door opened again. _Oh, here it comes._ She opened her eyes and looked in the door and there he stood again looking at her. His arms were full, a pillow on the pile of various items. He walked over to her and set them down beside her. She looked up at him while he was kneeled there. _What do you want?_ She looked at the little parcel of items and looked back at him questioning him without saying a word.

"I brought you some food and water. There's a pillow and blanket and Private Trezon went back to your shuttle to get some BDUs. Oh before I forget-" He clicked on and off her flashlight. "Just in case you need it."

_Need it for what? It's not like I can do anything chained like a varren._ She nodded at him without saying a word. She looked at the items laid out before her. He got up and started towards the door.

"Thank you." She whispered. She couldn't understand why she was doing it, but something compelled her to do so.

"I'll be back later, maybe then; we can start where we left off."

He continued through the door and turned around again. She looked at him and cocked her head, still confused by what had happened. With that, he closed the door and locked it again.


	6. Chapter 6

1245 Zulu 09.12.2183

Commander Vakarian sat at the ship's comm systems uploading file after file to the interface. The sun blared down through the open door. There was no wind and everything was still. It had been five days since they touched down in the dustbowl that was Helyme. When he was done transmitting the files an all complete signal came up on the screen. He'd been feeding lines to the turian military about why they hadn't left. His answers seemed acceptable. Saw Alliance ship. Fought and destroyed enemy vessel. Making repairs. Will resume patrol in one week.

He sat for a few minutes kicking his feet out in front of him waiting for a response from the brass. A beep from the display signaled that they were in touch. He fed them the usual lines and that they were nearing completion on repairs.

"Is there any need for assistance?"

"No, we've got one person manning the post and the other is helping me make repairs."

"We expect your next report in two days then. Good work Commander Vakarian."

"Thank you, sir."

He sat again and waited for another communiqué that was due to be arriving in a few minutes. He peered outside. It was barren and inhospitable. This planet is more than willing to kill a person if it wanted to.

Everything was working out the way he planned-for the most part. Another alarm blared from the console. He sat back down and tapped the screen.

"So you have her then?

"Yeah, I got her. She's more stubborn than I thought."

"She's an Alliance officer, one of the best. What did you expect?"

"I've made others scream with less effort."

"What about Lieutenant Gaeto?"

"Just the one incident so far. She's pretty well healed. I should be able to send her back to the Alliance in another day or so."

"It was lucky that you found her, alive that is and alone."

"I know sir, damn lucky."

"Good work, officer. You've done us proud."

"You're welcome, sir."

He clicked the panel again and shook his head. Playing both sides of the fence was hard work. He rubbed his eyes of the strain and got up to leave.

XXXXX

Nevara was lying on her blanket and staring up at the circle of light on the ceiling. She couldn't tell how much time had passed or even if it really mattered. Occasionally the turian she'd talked to before would come in and check on her. Everything was done in silence. She had been without the bandages for what could have been a couple of days and she was longing for a shower. Her hair caked with her blood, had started to smell and it pulled at her scalp when she furrowed her brow. The jump suit they brought to her had been beside her folded neatly. Her combat boots were set on top of them. She didn't know when they brought them in, but there they were shining faintly in the glow of the torch she held.

It was lonely in the dark shackled space she was in. She worked her cuff around her wrist trying to find a way to get it off. She needed out and she needed out now. Familiar thoughts from when she was a teen, to her command position, to every other dangerous assignment she'd ever been handed. The 'ultimate survivor', they called her back home. _The ultimate failure, I can't even die correctly. Death would be preferable compared to being the pet to, from what I can tell, three turians._ She closed her eyes again. Her eyes welled with tears. _Don't cry. Don't cry. For fuck's sake, don't cry._ Her frustrations pent up within her on the verge of explosion when the door opened. She lifted her head to see who it was. It wasn't the rat bastard turian trying to buy her into submission. It was the asshole one that had, in retrospect, handed her ass to her. _Like things couldn't get any more fucking worse._

"What the fuck do you want?" She jumped to her feet and squared off with him. _What little that's going to do. It's not like you can really get anywhere._ He stood there looking her over a sneer crept over his face.

"You're feisty. But that's not why I came here." He took a step into the room. "Commander Vakarian wants to take you out of the room; he says you need to be let out for a bit."

"Really, now?" She smirked. "That's an awfully dumb thing, don't you think?" She leaned on the pole restraining her. _He's up to something. No commander I've ever met just lets a prisoner out for exercise. Let alone a turian commander._

"I will agree with you in that fact, human." He nodded. He walked over to her and unbound her wrist. She rubbed it feverishly and looked back at the turian standing near her. His eyes were empty but for a spark of excitement that dotted his eyes every few seconds. "Get dressed." He ordered. He turned and headed back for the door.

"One last thing though, why isn't he letting me loose? Why you?" She asked.

He looked over his shoulder and with an evil expression replied, "He's up at the shuttle sending reports to the military." He closed the door behind him leaving her in the dark again. She grabbed her suit and put it on. She tied the arms around her waist and made makeshift pants out of them. She grabbed her boots and slid her feet in them. They were stiff and awkward without socks on. She stood up and looked around. She felt through the pockets and found a box in the side pocket. She pulled it out and there stood two cigarettes and a lighter. _Wrong clothes there, guys._ They had belonged to one of the soldiers that were assigned to her.

She stuck the pack in her pocket again as a memento and walked to the door. When it opened, there stood the turian asshole looking at her. She stood there for a second at a loss for words; there was something off about him. She looked to the right of him and there was another one lying on the floor. _Shit!_ The blood pooled around the mass on the floor, she couldn't tell which one it was, and all she knew was that this idiot was still alive. He stepped to her right. She hesitated, not knowing what the next course of action would be. _If he shot one of his own, then he sure as hell is more than willing to shoot me._ He grabbed her by the shirt and threw her out of the doorway. She fell to her knees landing in the pool of blood. It splashed at her. Sprinkles of it landed on her face and clothes. Her knees were saturated in the blue inky fluid. Her hands were painted in it. She looked back at him and he was pointing a gun at her.

"Run. I'll even give you a head start." He goaded her, smiling at her with a disgusting grin, as he shot at her feet.

She jumped up and sprinted towards the stairs. From behind her, she heard the turian barking of her escape and that Private Trezon was dead. He fired three shots in rapid succession. She rounded the first platform, her heart pounding in her throat. _I'm going to be boxed in, regardless_. Her boots pounded the metal steps like thunder. Two more shots came up from below her. She turned her head as she ran to see where he was. He was on the platform below her. The sound of the gun going off reverberated off the walls and rang in her ears.

She reached the top floor and ran down the tunnel towards the entrance. Two bullets came towards her and whizzed by her head swishing her hair in front of her face. The closer she got to the entrance the more it felt like she was running into an oven. The echo from the turian's footsteps behind her proved how close he was getting to catching up. She broke the threshold of the tunnel and skid in the dirt almost falling on her ass, but her hand caught her fall. She pushed herself up and ran to the right back in the direction she had come from when she had the run in with the thresher maw.

More shots were fired at her. One foot fall became two sets within seconds. She hid behind some boulders to catch her breath. _Fuck. What am I going to do?_ She was panting in exhaustion. Her lungs screamed when she inhaled. The air was hot and sticky and she was sweating profusely. She wiped her forehead with her forearm. _The turians are getting close I know it. Well, there is only one thing to do, go out fighting_. She knew she couldn't take out both of them, but a few good licks would be pleasurable to say the least. She listened furtively for how close they were getting. When they neared, she stuck her foot out and tripped up the one closest to her.

The turian flew to the ground and rolled over to point his gun at her. She kicked the gun out of his hand making it discharge and skimming her arm. Adrenaline pumped through her, she felt nothing. She hated them, every single one of them. She jumped on him punching him repeatedly over and over again. She was hitting him so hard and so fast that blood came splashing from out of his mouth. "I told you, I was going to kill you if I got the chance." She sneered at him. He rolled her on to her back and proceeded to hit her in retaliation. His blood dripped on her skin sliding into the ever present red of her own.

"I don't think so." He jabbed his knee it her ribs and proceeded to grab for the gun. She kneed at him and thrashed. Some hits landed their marks; others didn't, causing her knuckles to bleed. She bucked him hard so that he went off balance. He landed on his side, but she was now free of his weight. He grabbed her ankle just before she could get to it. She turned around and kicked him in the jaw, but over compensated and fell twisting her ankle in the process. He crawled over her pushing her face into the sand. It was impossible to breath. Mouthfuls of sand caused her to choke. The grit of it scratched her eyes. Nevara's vision started to go black. Her near paralysis ended when the second turian had arrived and pulled the first off of her. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed the gun and pointed it both of them taking a couple of steps back.

Commander Vakarian was staring at both of them. He pointed his assault rifle at her and he watched her. She was breathing heavily still. The corners of her mouth were caked with blood and dirt, a slow drip of blood fell down her nose. The turian standing near Commander Vakarian drew his sidearm and pointed his weapon at her.

"Put down your weapon, now, or I will shoot." He ordered to her.

"Screw you." Her eyes were trained on Commander Vakarian now. "This fucker is trying to kill me." She pointed the gun at the other turian.

"I said put the gun down. No one is going to hurt you." He started to lower his weapon.

"Bullshit. He's been trying to kill me for days now at least. I'm sorry, but one of us or all of us is going to end up dead today." She took another couple steps backwards, never taking her eyes of the two turians.

"Sir, let's just end this. We don't need her really, do we?" The turian asked.

"They want her alive."

"Well then if it's not going to be me to die today…" She fired three shots at the turian hitting him in the legs. She turned to run and rapid fire stopped her again.

"I said stop." Bellowed Commander Vakarian's voice. Followed by a single gunshot.

Commander Vakarian let out a roar and fell to the ground holding his side. She looked at the turian assassin. He was holding the gun towards her. _Better late than never. No time like the present._ Cliches filled her mind in one second. Everything she'd ever lost, everyone she'd lost, loved, hated, came out in one explosion of gunfire. She fired at him reiterating how much she hated him. She fired and walked focused on each round and its final destination. Hitting him in the shoulders and chest till his arm fell. She walked up to him to finish him off. She stood over him and watched. He was drowning in blood. He spat it up into the air as he gagged. His eyes were glassy and she kicked the gun out of his hand. She didn't smile, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She bent over him and eyed him carefully. She licked away some of the blood and spit it back in him.

"I told you, I'd get you in the end, you son of a bitch." She pointed the gun at him and pumped two more rounds into his chest. He flinched once and let out the death gasp she'd been longing to hear since this whole fiasco started.

She looked at Commander Vakarian. He was awake and trying to get up. She held out her hand to help him up. He accepted and tried to pull himself up. He was too heavy for her to hold with one arm. She fell forward on top of him. She pushed off his chest and looked at him.

"Come on; let's go you need to get up."

"I can't with you laying on top of me, Commander." He smirked and winced as he let out a chuckle.

"Commander? How do you-? Nevermind, we'll deal with that later." She shook her head and got up. She dusted the sand from her hands and waited for him to get up. She looked at the dead turian on the ground and looked back at the turian leaned over in front of her. They were just about eye to eye with each other now.

She threw his arm over her shoulder for support and they started the long walk back to the post. Neither one said a word to each other the whole way back. The silence for the first time was exactly what she needed. Her mind raced for reasons as to how he knew her. Why he'd let her live. Why he didn't stop her when she killed the turian. She couldn't understand it.

He was almost impossible to carry by the time they got to the bottom of the stairs. Her back was screaming, her legs were moments from giving way. She walked to the back room and dropped him in the middle room. Eye for an eye. Sorry. She grabbed the open cuff and latched it around the now unconscious turian's wrist. She looked at him in the dim light and walked to the door. She switched on the light and walked back and sat down. How the hell am I going to get this off? She pulled at the armor that encompassed his torso. _No hinges. It's one solid piece. I was right nothing can ever be just easy._ She unlatched the cuff and let his arm fall. She took off his gloves, bracers, shoulder guards, and omni-tool. She threw them at the door. Each piece clanked on the floor as she tossed them. She stood up and paced the room sizing up the task ahead of her. 

She sat on the floor at his head and pulled. The dead weight wouldn't give way an inch. She yanked again and the turian opened his eyes and looked at her. She jumped back and scurried to her feet.

"Having a problem?" He asked sitting up on his elbows.

"I thought you were out? And yes I am, to be honest." She replied crossing her arms.

"Checking on me?"

"You could say that."

"Are you always this vague?"

"When the moment strikes me." She smirked in response.

He sighed and looked at her. He pulled the armor off with ease and sat it next to him. He looked back at her and sighed again as he laid down on the floor.

"Alright then, this shouldn't be too hard." She sat down next to him and grabbed his wrist. He lifted his head in protest. She clicked the cuff back on. "For my protection, I assure you."

She looked at the entrance wound through the side of his body suit and out near the front. She stood up and walked out of the room and went into the medical bay. She grabbed scissors, hemostats, and a suture kit. She walked back into the room and turned on the light. She made her way back to the turian who was watching her all the way back to him.

"What do you got there?" He asked.

"Oh, you know, a little of this and a little of that. Now hold still." She told him as her eyes narrowed across his waist. She took the scissors and cut away his bodysuit. Well it was obvious at first glance it was a through and through. She bit her bottom lip in concentration. _It doesn't really look that bad._ She got up again and looked at him. "Where's my omni-tool?"

"In the drawer in my room."

She walked into the room and looked through the drawers. She grabbed it and jogged back to Commander Vakarian. She scanned his midsection. No injuries. No nothing. Just a flesh wound. "You know you're lucky." She told him. "It just went through the skin between your plates. I can stitch that up." She grabbed the needle and thread and started the slow process of stitching him back together. She looked at him to see if he was okay. He was just fine, asleep, but fine.

She grabbed the items and walked for the door. She checked him one last time before turning off the light and closing the door making sure to lock it behind her. She was going to have more fun with him then she thought she ever could.


End file.
